[GustavMahler]

I have seen a reviewer on youtube ( ) who claims that the limited FOV, which is definitely not the entire FOV of a person-really breaks immersion.

This statement has really shocked me, since I've always imagined VR as a whole new world without margins, and those literal margins seem to do just the contrary.
Now, Rift owners, please try to be as honest as possible-
Have you experienced this and has it broken the immersion?
Are the black margins noticeable, or do you have to look for it?
I know that the VIve actually has a larger FOV, but it compromises the fidelity of the image.
It really is hard to choose.
I hope you could help me with this!
Any input would be of a great help.

Thank you!

[pjs37]

Both the Vive and the Rift share the same horizontal FOV but the Vive is taller than the Rift at least as I understand it.

As for how does it affect my gaming experience? It is hard to say. You need to imagine it like a computer monitor in that you have a noticeable limit to your natural view which is quite wide and tall. As to effects on immersion I don't notice it really because like when I play a PC game or watch a movie I get lost in what I am looking at what is happening on the display. Would a wider FOV be more immersive? I am sure it would but it hasn't dropped me out of the experience yet. The biggest thing that has helped me with that I think is the fact that as you move your head you move your head in the virtual enviroment. Now I much like my cockpit sims so this was always a problem before because if I was in a cockpit and I moved my head I had to use a hatstick which either slowly moved my view around or would jump to pre-defined view points in the game. There is a popular add-on called TrackIR which made it so when you moved your head your view changed too. This helped but VR immerses you more than that because it makes you feel like you are really in a cockpit.

The most I can tell you is to try and find somewhere to try a Rift or a Vive (Microsoft Stores, Best Buy, Microcenter) and see if it really bothers you. I didn't watch the whole video but I wouldn't get too caught up on what a person tells you affects them but as he said you need to try it yourself.

[Talkivr]

I don't think it breaks immersion, I mean to get immersed you have to kind of get used to it. The limited FOV like pj said is like a monitor screen so you get used to it and it enough Older ones had FOV of 50-60 i heard so their almost double where they started. you rarely have a fully covered 180ish degree view to cover everything. You have a couple headset thats are promising higher FOV but most are not available to consumer yet. Like starVR is about 210 producing them for Imax or Fove which tracks your eyes may seem more immersive. The best on market and most popular right now for high end is vive and oculus. I think they are both about the same and recommend trying them somewhere nearby if you can. Always try before you buy, unless you can't lol.

[GustavMahler]

Both the Vive and the Rift share the same horizontal FOV but the Vive is taller than the Rift at least as I understand it.

As for how does it affect my gaming experience? It is hard to say. You need to imagine it like a computer monitor in that you have a noticeable limit to your natural view which is quite wide and tall. As to effects on immersion I don't notice it really because like when I play a PC game or watch a movie I get lost in what I am looking at what is happening on the display. Would a wider FOV be more immersive? I am sure it would but it hasn't dropped me out of the experience yet. The biggest thing that has helped me with that I think is the fact that as you move your head you move your head in the virtual enviroment. Now I much like my cockpit sims so this was always a problem before because if I was in a cockpit and I moved my head I had to use a hatstick which either slowly moved my view around or would jump to pre-defined view points in the game. There is a popular add-on called TrackIR which made it so when you moved your head your view changed too. This helped but VR immerses you more than that because it makes you feel like you are really in a cockpit.

The most I can tell you is to try and find somewhere to try a Rift or a Vive (Microsoft Stores, Best Buy, Microcenter) and see if it really bothers you. I didn't watch the whole video but I wouldn't get too caught up on what a person tells you affects them but as he said you need to try it yourself.

Believe me, I know exactly what you are talking about with the head movement-I have been an FSX user for years too
That is indeed an amazing feature, and from what I understand head movements are tracked flawlessly on both the Vive and the Rift.

Which headset do you own? Have you ever tried both?
Do you use FlyInside?

The rift seems to be like the better choice for the simulators, and it also has much better controllers that can be well integrated for interacting with the cockpit (Wow, I just try to imagine flying the PMDG 737-800, and turning on the plane cold and dark utilizing the controllers and moving my head!

How is the sim experience so far? I am really afraid from the low resolution.
Will a IFR flight in Vatsim be possible at all with all the radio communications, digits and texts?

Thanks!

[pjs37]

So I own an Oculus Rift. So far I only tried DCS Simulator and it was very good. Headtracking is wonderful in it and the cockpit is nice and sharp. I have tried the Vive and the Rift in a store before I purchased the Rift and believe me it was ridiculously hard to decide between the two You really cannot go wrong but I like the Rift for sims just a little better because of the legibility factor on the Rift vs the Vive (The Vive is a little more gritty if that makes sense)

I have not tried FlyInside yet, I yearn for the day where gloves that register my hand movements in game and power up a cockpit and grab the controls and take off. For now we will have to stick with using the mouse and joystick.

As far as I have tried the text legibility is just fine in the headset but I need to do more experimentation with my sims I only briefly did a quick test flight with the DCS sim. I will certainly let you know. I dont't do VATSIM so I cannot speak to that but I would imagine there may be some issues at least getting the VATSIM app to display on the headset. Again I don't use it so I don't really know for sure.

[GustavMahler]

Thanks for the detailed reply.
The Vive has now support for the wands in flyinside, and the developer should accommodate the new Touch too.
I think that the touch could be integrated amazingly well in flight sims. Of course gloves will be better, but for now it could be a great solution.
BTW you can walk around the cockpit in flyinside with the Vive!

[pjs37]

Well I would not want to use Touch or Vive wands to control the cockpit buttons. I would nee to constantly fumble for the controllers as I switch between my joystick and the controllers. But FlyInsides solution of using Magic Leap is a nice solution. I will need to check it out. I didn't know this was even a thing. Of course at the moment I am looking forward towards XP 11 lol